On June 3, the Minnesota Vikings officially presented their new general manager, Nolan Teasley, who comes over from the Seattle Seahawks front office.
As a result, the Vikings now have someone who has been part of a Super Bowl-winning environment and knows what it takes to build a team to reach the top of the mountain. Moreover, Teasley isn’t starting from scratch as he’s inheriting a team that’s looking to compete.
Teasley also has arguably one of the best offensive head coaches in football to work with in Kevin O’Connell. Furthermore, O’Connell spoke with the media on June 3 and shared his thoughts on Teasley’s hiring.
“Just very excited, not only about today, but most importantly about the moment we clear the aspect of introducing Nolan, most importantly to our building and to our staff,” O’Connell said. “He’s already met with our coaching staff this morning and the football staff.
“But getting to work, he absolutely was a phenomenal presence throughout the process that I felt very fortunate to be a part of, and I’ll speak to that in a moment.
“It became pretty clear very quickly that the background he’s had within a great organization is significant. I respect [Seahawks general manager] John Schneider so much and what they’ve been able to build in Seattle. Not only competing against those guys for a long time, but also we’re always observant, always observing the quality organizations in this league. We believe we’re one of them.”
Kevin O’Connell Looks to Help Nolan Teasley Succeed
It’s one thing to be the right-hand man in Seattle, and it’s another to be the man running to show with the Vikings. Furthermore, O’Connell noted that he will do everything in his power to ensure Teasley succeeds in Minnesota.
“To add somebody to our leadership and somebody who will lead our football operations, I’m just so excited to support him,” O’Connell added. “I view it as an equal part. As he’s talked about supporting the head coach, I think my job is to make sure that I put Nolan in a great position to have success as our leader by working not only with the football operations staff, but our coaching staff as well.
“I know that the word ‘collaboration‘ gets thrown out a lot, but when it works and when it is something that can be a powerful guiding tool for an organization, relationships grow within that. People grow within their roles and inevitably ascend to the heights that we all hope people do in our building. Nolan has all the characteristics that I know ownership was looking for in the process, but most importantly, he’s ready to step in and hit the ground running as our general manager.”
Former Vikings HC on Nolan Teasley Hiring
Teasley takes over for Rob Brzezinski, the team’s executive vice president of football operations, who was the interim general manager after the team fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah earlier this year.
Meanwhile, former Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier, who is currently the Seahawks’ assistant head coach, spoke with KSTP’s Darren Wolfson and shared what Minnesota is getting in its new general manager.
“I’m really excited for Nolan and Vikings fans,“ Frazier told Wolfson in a June 1 video. “Nolan is an outstanding leader. He’s a tremendous person. He has great personal acumen. He’s really good at identifying people’s strengths and weaknesses. I think he’s going to be a great addition to the Vikings organization.”
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Kevin O’Connell Gets Blunt on New Vikings GM Nolan Teasley appeared first on HEAVY.